‘Lot of others playing lot better than him’ – Ricky Ponting opens up on Prithvi Shaw's lean IPL 2023 run

Delhi capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has opened up on Prithvi Shaw's underwhelming run in the ongoing IPL 2023. Notably, Shaw was dropped from the previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad after returning a string of low scores.

The DC opener has featured in six games thus far, and has aggregated 47 runs at a dismal average of 7.83. Ponting highlighted Shaw’s poor performances in the league and hinted that he could be confined to the sidelines for some time.

"It just came to the point, where yes, it was six games this season, but I think it was six or seven games at the back end of last season as well. I think it's 13 [12] games since Prithvi has made a fifty opening the batting for the Delhi Capitals, which, if you look throughout the tournament, there are a lot of other players at the top of the order with other teams that are playing a whole lot better than Prithvi,” Ponting was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"I think the six games that he played, it was just over 40-odd runs, averaging about 7 or 8, so that's not what we require right now. So, it was a tough decision to leave him out, but hopefully, the team that we put on the park tomorrow can win another game for us,” he added.

In the previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the think-tank decided to field Phil Salt in the top-order by dropping Shaw from the XI. Though the batter was dismissed for a first-ball duck, the Capitals will back him to play the forthcoming fixture against SRH at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday, April 29. David Warner and Co. have won two matches in seven games and are placed in the bottom of the IPL Points Table with four points and need some points desperately to stay in the hunt.